Hi,
I am looking for ideas to help me make some gifts for family. Here's the deal: I have a very limited budget this year (a single mom with part-time job and most of my salary going to childcare!!!), and I would like to make a meaningful gift for all of my son's grandparents. I have thought about making photo albums with maybe handprints of my son at the beginning or something like that. I figured there are some creative moms on this site, and would love to hear your ideas. Thanks!
Wow, THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who wrote in with great ideas!!! I will definitely be stopping by Michael's sometime soon. I'm inspired by all your creativity, and am so glad I can count on you for help. Hope all your holiday gifts go well, too. xoxo
Have you looked into handmade ornaments? There very inexpensive and grandparents love them
Your ideas are great....you could also to a photo calendar and already have the "important" dates on it.
Enjoy the holidays. It should be a blast with your son this year!
Taking pictures on your own camera of your kids and getting them blown up and even changing them to black and white and framing them (you can find nice frames at discount stores) for relatively inexpensive. This is a nice momento and done for cheap when the pictures can be developed at Walmart or something. It is always a hit with the grandparents. Also, familyfun.com has some wonderful ideas of nice homemade gifts for cheap. Good luck!
Hi Nessa -
One year I traced my child's handprints (both hands) on a sheet of green felt (I actually had 2 children then so I used green and red), then cut them out, leaving about 1/2 inch or more at the top of the hand so it would look like a mitten. Then I sewed holiday buttons (snowflakes, trees, bells -- you can get them at Michael's or other craft stores) at the top of the "mittens" and connected them with some narrow green satin ribbon. I gave them to the grandparents for their tree. They were easy to hang -- you just drape them over a branch by the ribbon. The felt is very inexpensive, the buttons a little more so, but I found a spool of the satin ribbon in their $1 bin. Both sets of grandparents loved their gifts and my children love going to their houses at Christmas and finding their "hands" on the Christmas tree. Hope this helps. I admire you for trying to come up with a meaningful gift that you make yourself. It is a lost art in many ways, but so appreciated.
A. T.
Christmas is tight for us this year as well. What I did for my whole family including parents, siblings, and grandparents, was make a calendar through Shutterfly featuring my 11 week old daughter. I did a photo shoot of her with seasonal props to make each month special. She waved a flag for July, was surrounded by cut-out felt hearts for Februrary, wore a "First Birthday" hat for her birth month, etc...it turned out great and I know our family will love the calendars. The total cost for 9 calendars was just over $100 -- I scored a great deal with Shutterfly and made them during a free shipping special.
Whatever you decide to do, as long as it comes from the heart I'm sure your family will love it...and of course you have to feature your baby boy! Good luck and Happy Holidays!
scrapbooking is always a good way to go. you can get the supplies pretty cheap at target or walmart or somewhere like that. your time and patience is the real expense. you can do photo albums, calendars, coasters...etc. you can also order some online through snapfish or photobucket. they also have calendars, magnets, mugs, etc... it's a little more expensive but they do the work. you design it w/ uploaded pics and then they ship it to you. right now, snapfish has holiday specials where certain things are discounted if ordered my a specific date. hope that helps!
Last year, I purchased some handtowels and fabric paint and then had my son put his handprints on the towels... It was a hit with his 7 grandparents!! I know other people have done tracings of their hands and the children's hands on green construction paper to make a wreath. You make several copies and then arrange the adult hands as the bottom/major layer of the wreath and then put the children's hands on the top layers. make a red bow and then family has a special hand wreath! Good luck! homemade grandparent gifts are the best!
Cross-stitching Christmas prints are always a good idea. It's easy and a gift that's homemade is always so much more personal. Also, if you're not quite crafty...there is a website (snapfish.com) that you can go to that makes lots of cool things like collages and mugs, etc...out of your pictures. You could get mugs or shirts with your childs picture on them. The site is relatively inexpensive also. And, baking different cookies and putting them in decorative tins are always fun to...plus you could bond with your child while doing this. Or, craft stores have this molding (not sure what it is) where you can cast your childs footprint or handprint in it and it hardens up...if you wanted to go that route. Wow...sorry, kind of got on a rant there. Good luck with your decision and have a Merry Christmas!!
Have you thought of a family photo album/cookbook. I compiled family recipes using family photos to create a very personal heirloom for everyone. Your family will love this.
Make a silouet of your child. However you spell it. My son's grandparents loved it!!!! Take a picture of your child side ways & close up (profile shot) get it printed in a 5x7 and make several copies. Buy black contruction paper or black spray paint. *Two ways to do this* 1. tape the black construction paper to the picture and cut out your childs head and when you get the the shoulders cut upward at a slant. *2 cut the picture by itself the same way but when you are finished spray paint it black and allow it time to dry. ***Then whatever way you decide to do it..... place the finished product inside oval frames with a ribbon to hang it with for a dated look but any frame with the date added at the bottom, looks amazing! Good luck if you decide to it. It's quick, easy and it looks like you spent hours doing it. My mom cried. I knew I hit it big when that happened. :) ~K. Ps. If you can't get frames, you can attach the silouet to a 5x7 piece of cream construction paper and put it in a $1 stand up plastic frame. It looks great but I even gave one without a frame b/c I wasn't sure if I should buy gold or silver so I let them decide.
I know Costco (and maybe Wal-Mart) have ways to make photo calendars. I have a friend who does this every year and they are super cute. She takes pictures of her kids and puts a different one for each month (she uses pics from the previous year). There are also recipe books for jar gifts. (You make most of the recipe put it in a mason jar with a pretty ribbon and the rest of the recipe). You could do home made cocoa, homemade Chai tea.
Good luck!
N.
Chocolates (1 lb. bags are on sale at Michaels for $1.79). Molds are less than $2 and you can buy 30 cellophane bags for less than $2, too.
Yes, love the idea about hand prints. Put them on canvas using tempura paint. Be sure to wash hands immediately. But, then get a frame from either Dollar Tree or, if you want to be fancy, get it matted and framed at an art store. Stores are offering 50% off on custom framing.
Scrapbooks are always nice.
Also, AC Moore has sale now on wood craft kits for $1.99. I saw mailboxes that can be used as decoration for the holidays. Your baby would love "painting." Just choose one color and let him splash some paint on them. Then, get letters that spell out Pop Pop or Nana.
How proficient are you with the computer? Do the grandparents have a computer? I made my husband (and Father) a DVD for Father's Day. I used Roxio CD creator and had photos organized into mini albums and even added video and music.
Anything your child makes can be turned into a fun gift. You could look through Michael's website for ideas. What about making a tote bag with your son's photo on it? You'll need photo transfer paper, an inexpensive cotton tote, a computer and an iron.
good luck and have fun crafting.
I love all the ideas below, anything the kiddos make the grandparenst love. My folks can't get enough photos, so sometimes I just make my own frames (can buy a wood one at a craft store for a couple bucks and paint it/decorate it with the kids.) Just get a new picture to go with and done!
Also, I have made my own soap as a gift. The plastic molds are cheap (can be found at a craft store) and you buy a hunk of soap and melt them down. You can add colors and scents too.
And in general, I'm a huge baker and give alot of homemade treats as gifts. If there's a special treat you had as a kid, maybe make a batch of those? Buy a cheap plate and load up with bread, bars, cookies, etc and ready to go! Maybe even decorate your own plate with the kids and give? Good luck!
